


They Came From Space Canada

by PurpleFunkyDishwasher



Category: TWRP | Tupper Ware Remix Party (Band)
Genre: Gen, TWRP Reverse Big Bang 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:41:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23793280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurpleFunkyDishwasher/pseuds/PurpleFunkyDishwasher
Summary: A string of strange murders crops up in an otherwise sleepy Canadian town – coinciding with the arrival of four terrifying aliens, who are prime suspects for the case.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10
Collections: TWRP Reverse Big Bang 2020





	They Came From Space Canada

The town bustled with activity, its residents making the most of a sun-filled Saturday. Children laughed as they played amongst one another, while their parents enjoyed each other’s company and the lingering aroma of coffee at cafes that lined the streets.

‘It’s such a beautiful day,’ someone would remark, as people often would when the weather was nice. The small talk would go on and on, focusing on the weather for a little too long, but Matt didn’t stand around to eavesdrop on any of this.

He walked down the main street with a certain sense of conviction, towards the arcade that stood towards the end of the street.

‘-what, the little grey guys from Mars?’ James laughed.

‘Grey?’ Josh scoffed. ‘I thought they were green.’

‘Nah, you’re thinking about the ones from Venus.’

‘What about the brown ones? I heard they were from Ur-’

‘Here he is,’ Brandon spoke up, ‘the believer himself.’

‘Lemme guess,’ Matt sighed as he came to a stop. ‘Talking about ali-’

‘-aliens and their definitive existence,’ the other three answered, almost in unison.

‘Yeah, alright.’

‘You really think something’s out there and gonna try to contact us?’ laughed Josh. ‘Can you imagine that?’

‘Can you imagine that, maybe they’ll just take you away, Matt,’ began James. ‘ _ You believed in us, so come away to our paradise planet _ .’

The three laughed.

‘You’re not gonna change my mind any time soon.’

‘Alright then,’ said Brandon, ‘what do these  _ aliens _ look like then, you reckon?’

‘Well they wouldn’t  _ all _ be the same,’ replied Matt, trying not to get too enthusiastic. ‘Like, one kind would be like us, but a cyclops - they eat humans, you know. Then there’d be ones that are terrifying beasts that hunt us for sport-’

‘-probably to feed us to the cyclops,’ James whispered to Josh.

‘And ones that are just like, giant bugs.’

‘You mean like _ The Fly _ ?’ asked Josh. ‘That movie we saw last week?’

‘Yeah! And they’d have more advanced technology than we do, so they’d have robots -  _ killer _ robots, with large teeth and claws for hands.’

‘Yeah, right.’ Brandon smirked. ‘You’re off your nut, Matt.’

‘Well,’ he said slowly, ‘if you wanna see them, I think they’re kinda like the aliens in that one game at the arcade.’

‘Way to change the subject,’ said Josh. Matt headed towards the arcade, and beaconed the rest to follow.

Bright lights and loud sounds dulled the senses to everything else around them. The smell of day old pizza and hotdogs that hadn’t been touched by human hands for an indeterminate amount of time was lost on them, and the excitement of Matt’s latest high score made them forget that the carpet-over-concrete was making their feet hurt and swell over extended periods of time.

His character fell to the ground ungracefully, and the words “GAME OVER” flashed in bright red colours as a solemn 8-bit Funeral March played. Beneath appeared the text “HIGH SCORE!” in an obnoxious yellow, and the three friends cheered for Matt.

‘Dude!’ James exclaimed, ‘third time this month. You’re a machine!’

‘That’s nothing special,’ Brandon scoffed. ‘Fourth place? That’s nothing.’

‘Think you can do better?’ Matt asked.

‘Yeah - I reckon I can beat your score  _ and _ take third place.’

‘Alright then.’ Matt moved to the side. ‘Can’t wait to see it.’

Brandon took his place and slid a quarter into the machine.

Pressure on. His three friends crowded around him as the character appeared on screen and a chirpy little jingle played.

Nobody spoke a word. Brandon pursed his lips, barely blinking, as he put all of his focus into the game. His hands moved fluidly across the controls as though every move was rehearsed, like he knew where every single enemy would show up or ambush him. Sometimes one of the other boys would say something - ‘watch out!’ or ‘this boss is a tough one’ - but they otherwise respected the intense concentration needed.

Closer and closer the high score inched, and the eyes of the onlookers wandered towards the score on the top right of the screen.

190,000.

200,000.

‘What the-’

Brandon’s concentration broke as something scuttled up his leg. A quick shake dislodged the itchy feeling, but was greeted with the sombre tone of his character losing a life.

‘Damn it,’ he muttered, turning his eyes back to the game.

The creature, now loosed from Brandon’s leg, scuttled beneath the cabinet.

‘C’mon, Brandon, on your feet,’ Josh encouraged. ‘Almost there.’

Again the character began to move, but these movements seemed less calculated. Now off his game, every step, every jump was another chance at death.

His game didn’t last too much longer, yet the boys cheered anyway; beneath the bright red “GAME OVER” was the obnoxiously bright “HIGH SCORE!” text. The screen changed to the high scores, the blinking cursor taking the third place spot.

‘I didn’t believe in you,’ said Matt, ‘but ya proved me wrong.’

‘Looks like you’ll need more practice,’ Brandon beamed. He began entering his initials and-

-the power shut off.

A collective groan rang out from them

‘Seriously?’ exclaimed Brandon. He turned around and beaconed to a nearby assistant. ‘Hey! The game just turned off!’

The attendant - who didn’t look so enthusiastic to be there in the first place, with his frown almost a grimace and tired eyes - kneeled down and looked behind the machine. ‘It’s just unplugged. Won’t be a problem.’

Blindly he reached behind the cabinet, feeling around for the cord as the boys watched on impatiently.

Behind the cabinet, in the deep dark depths that no human dared explore, the creature crawled out from beneath.

It hesitated as it saw the hand groping about, but soon warmed up to it. The creature scuttled up but was sure not to come into contact with it, lest it get squished. It weaved in and out as digits rapidly moved about.

The hand grabbed the plug, paused for a moment.

The creature approached the hand almost tentatively, and lifted its frontmost legs, stretching out towards the fleshy being. It growled deeply, opening a fanged mouth dripping with venom-

-and the hand moved.

The creature shrunk back as the hand put the plug back into its socket and retreated.

‘There,’ announced the attendant as he got back to his feet. ‘Enjoy.’

But the game started up and, much to their dismay, the boys were met with the title screen that flashed with the “INSERT QUARTER” text.

‘Give it another shot?’ Josh held up another quarter.

‘Nah,’ said Brandon, ‘don’t think I’ve got the energy to do that again. I’d rather take my mind off it.’

In a manner that could be compared to sulking, Brandon walked away from the machine and towards the natural light of the outdoors, while the others followed suit.

From beneath the arcade cabinet scuttled the creature. It ran with reckless abandon, weaving between legs and beneath furniture.

And it, too, was able to marvel in the wonders of the sunlit world.

The group of four loitered outside the milk store. Josh counted the coins in his hand.

‘The hell are you,’ said Matt, ‘five? Just go in there.’

‘Wouldn’t wanna get my hopes up for something I can’t afford. Gotta save money for the arcade too.’

‘Seriously,’ said James, beginning to lose his temper. ‘You’ve got enough, c’mon-’ he grabbed Josh by the wrist and began to head in when the sunlight began to disappear.

Everybody - the boys, the children, and the parents - gazed upwards, mouths agape. This wasn’t the usual kind of solar eclipse one might hear about, when the moon moves over the sun. Rather, it was a ship unlike any other that blotted out the light and cast the town into shadow.

‘Dude,’ Brandon turned to Matt. ‘Dude, you were right, you were  _ totally _ right.’

Matt’s eyes remained wide and steadfast on the ship, in such a state of shock that he seemed to ignore Brandon’s words.

‘Y’know what they look like, didn’t you?’ asked Josh, grabbing Matt by the shoulder and shaking him out of his shock. ‘You were right about the aliens, you gotta be right about what they looked like.’

‘Uh, y- yeah, um…’

The milk store’s bell jingled as the door opened.

‘Out with it!’

‘Sorry, it’s just… uh, th- there was a cyclops, and animals like people, and-’

A lady stepped out of the milk store, shaken up from the recent development.

‘The bugs!’ exclaimed James, ‘there were giant bugs too, right?’

Matt nodded. ‘And, uh, the robots, I guess.’

‘Sorry-’ said the lady, approaching the boys, ‘did I hear you correctly? There are giant bugs on-’ she prodded a finger towards the space ship, ‘ _ that _ thing?’

‘Well, uh, possibly, but it’s just specu-’

‘Oh  _ god _ .’ Her voice had almost dropped to a whisper. ‘Giant bugs are going to eat us all.’

‘Well, no there’s not just bugs, it’s-’

‘A cyclops!’ chimed Josh.

‘And a man-beast,’ added James.

‘And a robot,’ said Brandon, ‘but you probably heard that part.’

‘Do people know about this?’ she asked.

‘No,’ replied Matt, ‘but I don’t think-’

‘We have to tell  _ everyone _ .’ She suddenly seemed a lot more serious, like she had been given a mission from the gods themselves. ‘Split up, and make sure  _ everybody _ knows.’

Three of the boys nodded and went in their different directions, leaving Matt by himself.

Rumours spread quickly and often got out of hand. This one, like all those before it, was no different.

The cyclops who was otherwise like a man became a terrifying thing with pointed teeth for gnawing on the bones of men. The beast-man, allegedly, was like the cyclops’ henchman (and was now rumoured to be 90% beast and 10% man), who would kill them and devour their flesh; the only proper sustenance for such a creature.

Combined with the movie’s recent release, the bug was much like the creature from  _ The Fly _ \- this was the one people seemed to dread the most, despite the possibility of their flesh being eaten and bones being gnawed.

The robot, it seemed, was the least of their problems; despite being rumoured to have been built for the express purpose of murder and having fingers like knives, a robot uprising was the least of their worries.

Needless to say, people returned to their homes quickly that night. The boys - having grouped back up after causing rumour-related chaos throughout town - said their goodbyes. Matt, Josh, and James, returning to their homes. Brandon, whose fears were beginning to fade, felt that the night was still young.

‘Last chance,’ he said with a smirk. ‘Heard this party’s gonna get pretty wild.’

‘Usually I’d be down,’ said a much less enthusiastic James, ‘but with that  _ thing _ , and the aliens… don’t wanna risk it, ya know?’

‘Suit yourselves.’ He walked away in a rather chipper mood, with much less consideration for his own safety.

The others walked in the opposite direction, finding safety in numbers.

He stumbled through the streets, trusting naught but his now foggy memory to get him home. He didn’t need a  _ lift _ or  _ somewhere to crash for the night _ . After all, he only lived two streets away.

Plus another two streets, and another few on top of that.

Numerous times he almost strayed too far from the path, where he would have been met with a gentle slope and a fall into a shallow river.

It watched from the trees.

A leg went forward.

_ Crunch. _

He hesitated for a moment, and decided it was nothing. Continued along his way. Still two plus two plus a few streets left to go, after all.

_ Crunch-crunch-crunch. _

That time, he definitely heard something.

He stopped and turned.

And he was faced with a creature unlike any he had seen before, with too many legs and dripping fangs.

‘Awww,’ he slurred. ‘Y’look like y’could be one of them aliens. Y’don’t look s’tough - c’mere, cutie.’

And come it did.

His screams rang into the night.

The camera flashed one last time before Brandon’s corpse - bloated with water, chunks of flesh removed and not a scrap of blood in sight - was moved onto a stretcher and taken away from the scene. Evidence markers scattered the area.

‘What could’ve done this?’ mused one officer. ‘This isn’t like anything we’ve seen before.’

‘Good timing, don’t you think?’ offered Officer Martin.

‘How so?’

‘A strange murder the day after those aliens hang their ship in the sky?’ she looked over to her colleague. ‘Does that seem like a coincidence to you?’

‘But the ship hasn’t moved.’

‘What proof do we have of that?’

‘Everybody was quick to return home last night. Officer Wills was finishing up his shift and making sure everyone got home safely - don’t want anybody falling victim to something like that - probes, what have you. He reported that as far as he could tell, he was the only one left on the streets. Guess he missed one. Besides-’ the sun began to peek out from behind its cover, ‘-it’s moving right now.’

The ship continued its descent towards Earth. People gathered on the main street, once again unable to take their eyes off of it. Children hugged their mothers, wives their husbands - all feared the horrors that intelligent extraterrestrial life could bring.

‘How’re you feeling?’ James asked, nudging Matt in the side. ‘Excited?’

‘Nervous as hell. Just like everyone else.’

Police cars raced onto the scene, sirens blazing. Officer Martin - along with the others - opened the door, and drew her gun.

The ship touched the ground and opened up. Smoke billowed from its innards, revealing the silhouettes of the four aliens.

And once the smoke cleared, they continued to stand at the ship’s gaping maw as the humans stared.

The one who caught their attention first removed his pyramid-shaped helmet to reveal a single eye. The one next to him sported physiology not unlike a lion, and his more humanoid body appeared to be covered in fur to match.

One donned red garb, with a moth-like visage that many swore they had once seen in their most horrid nightmares.

The last was undeniably a robot, sharper and meaner-looker than his counterparts, with eyes that burned like flames.

The cyclops raised his hand, and he spoke in a language that was surprisingly recognisable.

‘Suh, dudes.’

The humans did not respond.

James whispered to Matt, ‘They’re just as horrific as you said.’

‘Maybe they don’t speak English,’ said the lion.

‘Why wouldn’t they?’ the cyclops retorted. ‘We chose somewhere that  _ would _ speak English.’

‘Try French.’

‘Salut!’

Nothing.

‘German?’

‘This should be Canada, I don’t think they’ll speak-’

‘Just give it a fuckin’ go.’

‘Guten Tag!’

Still - no response.

‘Maybe Latin.’

‘Latin’s a dead language, Commander, they’re not gonna-’

‘You’re coming with me,’ interrupted a shaky Officer Martin, who hadn’t experienced fear like this since they were little more than a new recruit. ‘To the station. For questioning.’

Both the cyclops and lion, who had been preoccupied with their debate, looked towards her. ‘About what?’ the cyclops inquired.

‘For the murder of Brandon Moore.’

Matt, James and Josh stood stunned. ‘Brandon was…’

‘The fuck?’ growled the lion, who they now knew as “Commander”. ‘We just got here and we’re already bein’ framed for a fuckin’  _ murder _ ? That’s fuckin’ bullshit! When would we have had time to commit a fuckin’ murder?’

‘Calm down, Meouch-’

‘Why the fuck should I calm down?’ he roared, and the crowd of humans simultaneously flinched back, some even managing terrified gasps.

‘We’re guests on this planet, we need to make a good impression. We haven’t committed any crimes, so this’ll only take a moment.’ The cyclops, once again, looked towards Officer Martin. ‘Alright, we’ll go with you.’

The four walked away from the ship and towards the cars. The humans parted for them like the Red Sea, and the officers kept their guns drawn.

‘One per car,’ she warned. ‘So you can’t try any funny business.’

‘Fuckin’ bullshit,’ mumbled the Commander.

‘We’re not even a fuckin’ threat.’

‘So,’ sighed Officer Martin, pinching the bridge of her nose. ‘Let me get this right. Doctor Sung?’

Sung, who sat in one of the four chairs laid out, smiled. ‘That would be me.’

‘Lord Phobos?’ Phobos, who stood beside Sung, nodded.

‘Commander Meouch.’ Leaning against the table and refusing to make eye contact, Meouch huffed.

‘And, uh, Havve… Hogan?’ There was no response from Havve at all, who was busying himself with staring into the one-way mirror.

‘And you all know why you’re here.’

‘Yes, Officer,’ replied Sung. ‘But it’s like we keep saying - we didn’t commit any murders.’

‘Not on this planet, anyway,’ added Meouch - despite sounding annoyed, he appeared to be smirking slightly.

Sung shot Meouch a glare. ‘We’re good people - and those of us who were once bad people are good now, too. You’ve gotta trust us.’

‘These photographs-’ Officer Martin laid the pictures out on the table, ‘-show what happened to Moore last night. You arrived in… Earth’s atmosphere… yesterday, did you not?’

**We did,** signed Phobos. Officer Martin stared at him with a furrowed brow.  **But we didn’t finish landing preparations until the morning. We thought it would be best to start our relationship with humans off with a clear mind and a new day.**

‘I… don’t know what this guy is saying. Can we get a translator, or something?’

‘We weren’t ready to come down until this morning,’ Sung clarified as he looked over the pictures. ‘Basically - we didn’t have time to commit a murder.’

‘You would have noticed the chunks of flesh missing from Moore’s corpse. Looks like you’d be able to tear through with teeth, if they were sharp enough.’ She flashed her eyes up to Meouch, who seemed to have gotten the hint.

‘Why the fuck would I wanna murder some random fuckin’ human?’ he growled, obviously trying to keep his temper under check. ‘I’m sure he was a good kid, and he didn’t do anythin’ to me. I’ve got no bones to pick with any of ya.’

‘Or inhuman strength, then. Don’t know much about robots, but I’m sure it would be easy enough to program one without any sense of morals-’

Havve quickly turned his head towards Officer Martin. His eyes burnt through her skin and into her soul.

‘-but that seems… unrealistic…’

‘I’m sorry, Officer,’ said Sung, face in his hands, ‘I’m trying to be patient, but you need to understand - none of us killed this man.’

‘Then why come here, to Earth? I’m sure a group of aliens like yourselves could go anywhere you wanted. It seems suspicious, to me, that you would come to this place.’

‘It’s like you said. We could go  _ anywhere _ in the universe, but we chose Earth. There’s not much more to it - Earth seemed like a great place to be right around now.’

‘Once y’see how many desolate pieces of shit planets there are out there, you’d really appreciate this one more,’ continued Meouch.

‘I’d wanna see that for myself to believe it. Seems like a pretty easy cover story to give.’

Meouch slammed his paw-like hands down on the table. Officer Martin jumped. ‘We’re innocent until proven guilty, aren’t we?’

‘Meouch is right.’ Sung, much calmer than Meouch, nodded his head in agreement. ‘How does this sound - if you let us go, we’ll catch your murderer. If not, we’ll happily turn ourselves in.’

Officer Martin pursed her lips. She stood silently, and left the room.

Phobos tapped Sung on the shoulder.  **Do you think that’s a good idea?**

‘What other choice do we have? She seems pretty convinced that we murdered that guy.’

‘Y’know what they’ll do to guys like us, right?’ asked Meouch. ‘We won’t go to prison. They’ll probably run tests on us. See what makes us tick.’

‘Why would you think that?’ Meouch glared at Sung. ‘Besides, I’m confident we’d be able to find the murderer. When have our plans gone wrong in the past? ...don’t answer that.’

Officer Martin re-entered the room. ‘You have three days.’

Sung smiled.

‘You won’t regret this.’

‘This is fuckin’ hilarious,’ Meouch laughed. ‘Watch this-’ he growled - not unlike a wild beast - at two men sitting on a bench. The men got a jolt and scurried off, causing Meouch to only laugh more. ‘They’re fuckin’ terrified of us! This is great!’

**Don’t scare the humans,** Phobos warned as Meouch fell back in line with the group.

‘C’mon, ya can’t say ya don’t wanna try it. Look!’ Meouch grabbed Phobos by the shoulders and pushed him towards a group of women. Both women and Phobos seemed concerned. ‘Look at this guy! Isn’t he a freak?’

Phobos slapped Meouch’s hand away.

**Their fear doesn’t interest me.**

‘Aw, don’t be a party pooper. Havve seems to be enjoyin’ it.’

But all Havve had to do was stare at people, and they would make a point of finding the longest route away from the robotic horror.

‘Phobos is right,’ said Sung. ‘We have a reputation to maintain.’

‘Trust me, Doc, we’ve only got  _ one _ reputation with these guys, and I’m doin’ the best I can to uphold that.’

‘So we don’t know what we’re up against,’ pondered Sung, ignoring Meouch. ‘We’ve seen the pictures, and we know it has the ability to kill.’

**That doesn’t narrow it down.**

‘Yeah,’ Meouch piped up. ‘It coulda been any one of us.’

‘Can we assume that it wasn’t human?’

**The Officer said nobody had seen anything like this before. It could’ve been an animal that isn’t native to these parts.**

‘How many animals could do that?’

‘Coulda been a vampire,’ Meouch joked.

‘Vampires don’t exist.’

‘Neither do we, accordin’ to these guys. But here we are!’ Meouch spread his arms in what could only be a display of very much being there and alive. A human walking by flinched as they stared at the lion’s claws.

‘We do, very much, exist, but vampires don’t.’

‘What about that one planet we went to? Fuckin’... y’know, the one with the vampire guys.’

‘They weren’t called vampires, though, and they weren’t like vampires the way  _ we _ know them.’

‘But they still suck your blood, and have fangs-’

**Didn’t they look more like hyenas than bats or anything else associated with vampires?**

‘Thank you, Phobos.’

‘If it sucks your blood, it’s a vampire.’

‘What about mosquitoes?’

‘Tiny vampire bastards.’

**I’m not sure I agree.**

‘C’mon! They fly around, suck blood, get fucked up by crosses n’ shit-’

**No they don’t.**

‘If ya hit ‘em hard enough they do.’

Across the way sat three friends who had been paying no attention to the conversation or the nature of those who held it. They seemed more focused on the pavement beneath their feet, looking rather glum.

‘Can’t believe Brandon’s gone,’ said Josh, not for the first time that day.

‘Who coulda had it out for him that badly?’ wondered James.

‘Just some idiot, I reckon. Probably had nothing against him, really. Just some asshole.’ Josh looked up and saw the argument across the street; from where he sat, it was little more than some incoherent rambling about vampires. ‘Hey, Matt.’ He pointed across the street. ‘There’s your idols.’

‘Dude, shut up.’ Matt punched Josh slightly in the side of the arm, but looked up nonetheless.

‘-and they have those weird lookin’ legs!’

**Who said anything about their legs?**

‘This isn’t getting us anywhere,’ the cyclops interrupted. ‘Hey, what about those guys?’ he pointed towards the three sitting on the kerb, who all froze up. He waved as he walked over, the other three following. ‘Hey!’

Sung kneeled down in front of one of them, barely taking any time to notice how the humans had frozen up, and the way they did their best to maintain a distance without physically removing themselves from the scene. ‘So, mosquitoes - are they vampires or not?’

James couldn’t remove his stare from the alien’s single eye. All that went through his head were the words he could use to describe this creature from outer space, and none of them were good. So, instead, he said nothing at all.

‘Weren’t these guys asked about Brandon?’ Josh whispered to Matt.

Havve turned his head to the human who spoke.

Josh let out a little yelp and flinched away.

‘Fuckin’ hell,’ growled the lion, whose hearing was surely superior to that of an ordinary man’s. ‘Innocent until proven guilty!’

‘Then why were the cops so interested in you?’ Josh retorted.

**It’s a pretty strange case,** signed Phobos. **I can see why they would want to question the guys who came down from space in a ship.**

James, who wasn’t fully recovered from his temporary paralysis, barely managed out, ‘I have no idea what he just said.’

‘I’d probably question us too, if I were in the humans’ situation,’ Sung agreed. ‘But we didn’t hurt that guy - we didn’t even know him! - so we’re not gonna stop until we find the culprit.’

**Or until our three days are up.**

‘I want to help you,’ Matt blurted. ‘Brandon was my friend - our friend - and I want to know who did this to him.’

The four aliens stared at him.

He stared back, unflinching.

‘Y’won’t be any help, kid,’ said Meouch after a moment. ‘You’ll just get in the way.’

‘I know this place like the back of my hand,’ he refused. ‘If something’s happening, I can show you where.’

‘We appreciate the offer,’ said Sung, ‘but we really don’t need the help. We didn’t spend all that time hanging out up there for nothing.’

**Actually, we did.**

‘We were getting a lay of the land, so we’ve got a good idea of it now. It’s probably a good idea for you to stay outta this anyway. If something’s going around killing people, then you’d only be a liability. Now!’ Sung clapped his hands together. ‘Where were we?’

‘The mosquitoes?’ answered Meouch.

‘No, the other thing - that was it! The thing! We have to go inspect the crime scene.’ Sung began walking down the street. The other three did not follow - all six stared.

‘Uh, Doc?’ Meouch called after him. ‘Crime scene’s the other way.’

‘Right!’ Back came Sung, walking right past his friends and the humans. ‘Like I said, perfect lay of the land.’

This time his three friends followed, and the three humans continued to watch.

‘What a bunch of idiots,’ Josh mumbled. ‘Can’t believe you’re so interested in these guys.’

The scene had been scrubbed spotless - Meouch, with his cat-like senses, very carefully analysed every millimetre of pavement. ‘Didn’t make it fuckin’ easy for us, did they?’

Phobos dug around like a bored child looking for entertainment in the dirt and grass. He lifted his hands only to sign,  **They did their job well. Gotta give them that.**

Sung stood over the scene with the photos, trying to line up the images with the scenery. ‘I think we’re off the mark.’

Havve, despite the inherent dangers one may think came with being made of metal and mixing such with water, stood in the shallow river, watching tiny fish swim about his legs. He moved with them, as though watching for any suspicious actions.

Eventually the fish stopped, schooling around a green, pebble-shaped object.

‘Maybe he was murdered over there?’

‘It’s gotta be here. Can’t ya smell that?’

Havve bent down and picked up the pebble.

‘Smell what?’

‘The scent of blood, what else?’

‘Maybe any of the other smells associated with an Earth neighbourhood?’

He turned it around in his hands, stared at it for so long that it could be considered uncomfortable.

‘What smells do you associate with an Earth neighbourhood?’

‘Mowed grass.’

**Barbecues.**

‘Houses.’

**Fresh paint.**

‘Like the exterior of a house? The fuck’s that smell like?’

Havve moved out of the water, the fish scurrying away.

‘Like bricks, what else?’

‘So ya can smell bricks but not day old blood? Cut me some fuckin’ slack.’

‘It’s a pretty distinctive smell once you get to know it - Havve, what you got there?’

Meouch and Phobos came to stand around Sung and Havve, who unveiled his discovery.

**I don’t get it.**

‘You’ve been spendin’ too much time with the fish.’ Havve stared - condescendingly, as if he was capable of staring any other way - at Meouch.

‘It’s more than anything we’ve found,’ said Sung. ‘You found that in the river?’ Havve nodded. ‘Anything else down there?’ A shake of his head. ‘Well, since we don’t have anything else, maybe you should hold onto it.’

‘It’s just a fuckin’ pebble!’

‘If it’s “just a fuckin’ pebble”, then we should get back to combing the scene.’

‘You got any better ideas?’

‘Indeed I do, Commander.’

The pebble hit the desk with a  _ thunk _ . Officer Martin looked up slowly from her paperwork. The other officers all stared at the aliens - unarmed, but ready to jump on them at the first signs of misbehaviour.

‘What’s this?’ Officer Martin asked.

‘We found it at the crime scene,’ Sung announced.

‘It’s… just a pebble.’

‘That’s what I told him!’ shouted Meouch.

‘But how many  _ green _ pebbles have you seen?’

‘A lot. In aquariums. Do you four need something?’

**We need more to go on.**

‘Translation?’

‘We need more clues,’ answered Sung. ‘Do you have anything else for us?’

‘I’ve given you all we have right now.’

‘What about an autopsy?’

‘What about it?’

‘Has there been one?’

‘Yes.’ Sung opened his mouth. ‘You are  _ not _ being given the information.’ And he promptly closed it again. Officer Martin sighed. ‘Come back tomorrow, and I’ll give you what findings I can then.’

‘But that’ll only leave us with two days.’

‘Then you better get on it.’ Nobody moved. ‘Go on, get outta here. You’re scaring everyone.’

The four made to leave the office space.

‘The hell are we meant to do until then?’ Meouch asked, the undertone of a growl in his voice.

To which Sung answered, ‘I think it might be time to experience a little bit of Earth culture.’

**You call this Earth culture?**

Havve cast the line back out to the water.

‘I’d call it a meal, if we were actually catchin’ anything.’

‘I’d argue there’s little else that captures Earth so perfectly.’ Sung sat next to Havve on the old wooden pier. ‘Where else can you find beaches with water so clear you can see everything that’s going on down there?’

**We went to that beach planet once.**

‘And that one really fuckin’ creepy place. Never wanna go back there - least the water looked good. They had that much goin’ for ‘em.’

‘There’s just something different about Earth.’

‘Like how the fish never bite? C’mon Havve, caught anythin’ yet?’

Havve reeled the line back in, revealing that not a single bite had been taken.

‘You’re not gonna catch anything like that.’ All four turned their heads. Josh walked down the pier, all set for a long night of fishing. ‘Or this close to the beach, either. You come here for God-knows-what, and you don’t even bother learning the simplest things.’

‘Then maybe you can teach us?’ queried Sung.

‘Yeah, in your dreams.’ Josh sat himself down at the end of the pier, legs dangling over the side. He baited the hook and cast his line into the water.

Sung joined him. ‘C’mon, what have you got against us?’

‘You guys show up and one of my friends dies. That doesn’t seem like a coincidence.’

‘We don’t have any ill intent towards humanity,’ Sung argued. ‘You’d see that if you got to know us, so what do you say? You, me, my pals, and some fishing. How’s that sound?’

Something tugged at Havve’s line. He tensed up - as much as he was capable - focusing on the situation at hand.

‘Sounds like a waste of my time.’

Havve reeled in the line.

‘Be careful with that,’ Meouch said, little more than a whisper. ‘Don’t wanna lose it.’

‘Well, I tried.’ Sung stood up. ‘Maybe you’ll come around on us eventually.’

What Havve pulled out of the water was the smallest fish they’d ever seen, barely larger than a finger.

‘That’s not dinner,’ complained Meouch, ‘that’s barely even a snack.’

‘We’ll find somewhere to eat,’ Sung replied as he walked by. ‘It’s a small town, but there has to be something.’

**What if they don’t serve us?**

‘Not to mention we don’t have a cent of  _ any _ Earth currency to our name.’

Havve and Phobos followed Sung. ‘We’ll find something, don’t worry about that.’

A hesitant Meouch caught up but not without mumbling, ‘Guess we could always get the ol’ five finger discount.’

‘We’re not stealing food,’ Sung argued, their voices getting fainter. ‘We’re in enough trouble as it is.’

‘So we have to starve instead? C’mon - they won’t even  _ know _ if we’re sneaky enough.’

‘It’s the morality of it. How would you like…’

Their voices drowned out.

Waves crashed against the pier, and onto the sandy shore.

The last of the seagulls squawked as they flew back to their homes in the light of the setting sun.

The birds, the beach, and Josh were all that remained.

Something tugged at his line. Reeling it in revealed a decently sized fish, enough at least for two of those guys - if they even ate the same kind of meals normal people did.

Josh took the hook from the fish’s mouth, leaned down to the water, and let the fish go. It swam out, knowing that sticking around could lead to a more unfortunate fate.

He baited the hook and cast his line out again, and looked out towards the setting sun.

The past 24 hours had been eventful, more than anybody could have imagined. And who would’ve thought Matt was right about the whole aliens thing?

Josh laughed to himself - as harrowing as the murder of one of his closest friends was, it was all just a little bit crazy.

Another tug at his line - this one seemed a little more eager to get the bait.

Josh began to reel it in, and knew when to let go of the line when his catch was struggling too much.

This was a tougher catch than most fish in the area; while some did like to put up a challenge, they gave in soon enough. But this one kept tugging and tugging, greedy enough to take not just the bait but the whole line with it.

Finally he pulled the fish up out of the water to reveal-

-something that certainly, without a doubt, was no kind of fish, but rather a creature more akin to an arachnid.

‘What the-’

He pulled the line closer, sure to keep the creature a distance away.

As the line swayed the creature gripped on tighter. It turned its eyes to Josh, who was almost squinting to see what he had caught.

The creature scurried up the line with ease, and jumped.

‘This is crazy,’ said Sung, wide-eyed with disbelief. ‘We just saw the guy last night.’

A stretcher was rolled up the pier, a white sheet covering the victim.

‘We were the only other people here, as far as I know. I don’t know who could have done this.’

‘So it was just you four,’ began Officer Martin, crossing her arms, ‘and the victim. There were no other eyewitnesses, and no knowledge that anybody else was here. Who’s to say you weren’t responsible?’

**It’s true that he wasn’t exactly kind to us,** replied Phobos.

Havve walked away from the group, down the pier to look into the water.

**But it was no reason to commit a murder.**

Officer Martin raised a brow at whatever it was Lord Phobos had just signed, and turned her head back to Sung and Meouch.

‘What reason would we have to murder him - or anyone?’

‘You tell me.’

‘We’re not fuckin’ murderers!’ Meouch growled. ‘We’ve still got time to prove our innocence!’

‘This is the second murder in as many days, and the second day you lot have been in our town. Any more and I might have to take you boys in.’

‘But we’re innocent!’ exclaimed Sung.

Officer Martin stared at him. ‘Get outta my sight before I decide to take you guys in now. And I better not hear another word from any of you before you find the killer - if that’s not one of you, anyway.’

‘What about the autopsy?’

‘Do you want me to take you to the station-’

‘Yes!’

‘-where you can have it read to you from a cell?’

Sung huffed. ‘C’mon, Havve.’

Havve looked at Sung, but shook his head. He pointed down into the water.

‘What is it?’ Sung joined Havve, and soon saw what was concerning him - under the water, staring back at them, was an almost neon-green, pebble-shaped object. ‘Like the one from the other day…’

Sung and Havve exchanged a glance, and Sung looked back down to the water.

And Sung dived in.

‘Sung!’ shouted Meouch as both he and Phobos ran over to Havve.

The eyes of all personnel turned to the edge of the pier as they heard the splash.

Sung resurfaced moments later, taking a deep breath.

‘The fuck d’you think yer doin’?’

He held up the pebble. ‘Look familiar?’

‘It looks like a soggy fuckin’ stone,’ replied Meouch. ‘Get the fuck outta the water.’

The four regrouped at the sandy shore, Sung dripping wet and clothes clinging to his body.

‘Look.’ He held out the pebble. ‘Just like the one Havve found yesterday.’

‘So?’

‘So it could be a calling card. Something the murderer’s leaving behind. This could be a clue.’

‘How do you expect to find a killer with nothin’ but a fuckin’ rock?’

‘Well it’s simple, really. Look, Officer Martin’s coming over,’ Sung waved to the officer, who was walking along the sand. ‘She’ll get it. Officer Martin!’

‘What the hell was that?’ she scolded.

‘It’s a clue.’ Sung pointed to the pebble.

‘No, not  _ that _ . Your stupid act with diving into the ocean.’

‘Well I had to get this-’

‘Forget the damn rock for a second, will you! I tell you to go and you do that? Where are you from, Doctor Sung?’

‘It doesn’t exist anymore, but it used to be that, if you went about 25,000 kilometres out of Earth’s atmosphere and turned left, and then-’

‘Okay, forget I asked. Here, in Canada - on  _ Earth _ , actually - people generally don’t make their exits by jumping off a pier.’

‘It wasn’t an exit, I was getting a potential clue-’

‘This-’ Officer Martin snatched the pebble from Havve’s hand, who glared at her, ‘-isn’t a clue. It’s a  _ rock _ .’

‘There was one just like it at the other crime scene.’

‘This means  _ nothing _ . If it  _ was  _ a  _ clue _ , one of our people would have picked it up. This is  _ nothing _ but a damn rock.’

Officer Martin stormed off.

‘Then can we have our damn rock back?’ Meouch called after her.

‘ _ No _ !’ As she powered down the beach her mumblings could be faintly heard - something, if they were correct, about  _ a real Doctor would be smarter than that _ .

‘Still have the rock from the other day?’ asked Sung. Havve pulled the first rock from the pouch, and Sung smiled. ‘Great, then we still have a chance. Today, we’re going to solve a mystery.’

‘I thought you said we were gonna solve a mystery.’

‘And if you wanna solve a mystery, you have to be where the people are. If there’s a murderer, then they’ll be just like anybody else, right?’

‘You think the murderer’s just gonna reveal themselves in the middle of a fuckin’ shoppin’ strip?’

The shopping strip was bustling with people. Faces of otherwise friendly and happy people almost blended into one as people went about their lives, none of them looking overly suspicious.

Except for the four aliens, of course, whom all the humans treated with extreme suspicion and caution. They walked right around the four, leaving a large gap between them. Some humans stared, others glared, and others diverted their attention completely.

Normally, anyone who acted like that would be worthy of suspicion, but they knew that they could not stop every single one of these people.

‘In retrospect, maybe this wasn’t my best plan,’ Sung admitted.

**If we’re being honest, I’d say it’s one of your worst.**

Sung sighed, but any sorrow was soon replaced by a smile. ‘But now we can experience a little more human culture.’

‘That was your plan this whole time, wasn’t it?’

‘What - no! Finding that murderer is our top priority.’

Phobos and Meouch exchanged knowing glances - though Sung’s heart might have been in the right place, he  _ did _ seem to be enjoying this a bit too much.

‘But to find a human murderer, we need to  _ think _ like a human murderer.’

**This might be taking it a little too far.**

‘No way!’ someone shouted. All four looked towards the source. James - who was dressed in what seemed to be a work uniform - was talking, rather heatedly, to an older man. ‘I’m not working overtime, and I’m  _ definitely _ not doing it alone! What about the murders?’

The words of the older man - one could only assume their manager - were lost within the crowd. Whatever he said made James’ expression drop. ‘You can’t do tha-’ he was cut off, and continued with, ‘fine, I’ll do it.  _ Just _ this once.’

His manager walked back into the store.

‘Hey!’ Sung walked briskly over. James glared as he and the other three aliens came over. ‘We heard you talking about the murders.’

‘We weren’t talking about the murders,’ James almost mumbled, ‘it was about work.’

‘Well, if you don’t want to be alone, we could, maybe, hang around, keep any murderers at bay?’

‘Why would I trust you? You guys just got here - you’re probably most likely to be the murderers.’

‘And I don’t wanna be babysittin’ some kid,’ Meouch agreed.

**And it would waste what little time we have left.**

Sung turned to the other three and said softly, as so James couldn’t overhear, ‘but if the murderer were to strike, we could catch them in the act.’

**But they’ve only targeted lone victims so far.**

‘We don’t have any leads,’ Meouch pondered. ‘It might be a necessary risk.’

‘You’re not coming along,’ James interjected. ‘We can’t trust  _ anybody _ right now, especially not the  _ aliens _ .’

James walked away.

‘It’s dangerous!’ Sung argued as he followed along.

‘I’m in less danger without you four around!’ James snapped, and stormed away.

Sung stopped. ‘Looks like we’ll have to continue our investigation then.’

**Maybe we should split up,** Phobos suggested.  **Two groups.**

‘We  _ will _ cover more ground that way,’ Meouch agreed.

‘Alright, that’ll be our next plan of attack,’ said Sung. ‘We’ll meet back up here around sunset and share what we found.’

‘Hey.’ They turned around to find a human addressing them -  _ directly _ , for once.

‘Oh!’ Sung exclaimed, ‘you’re that guy-’

‘...Michael?’ queried Meouch.

‘No, I think it was Mitchell.’

The human spoke up, ‘it’s Ma-’

‘Coulda been Mark.’

‘Mike?’

‘Mike is short for Michael.’

‘My name is-’

‘Yeah, but some people prefer nicknames.’

‘They’d just correct ya if they didn’t-’

‘Matt,’ he interjected. ‘It’s Matt.’

‘Matt!’ Sung and Meouch exclaimed together. Sung continued, ‘of course it’s Matt! Why  _ wouldn’t _ it be? So how can we help you, Matt?’

‘It’s about James - that guy you were just talking to. He’s my friend. My other friends were…’ he sighed. ‘They were killed by the murderer. He probably told you not to worry, right?’

‘Somethin like that,’ answered Meouch.

‘I’m worried, after what happened to the others. I want to go after him - and I want you four to come along.’

‘Do you really think he’s in danger?’ asked Sung.

Matt nodded. ‘He doesn’t trust you, but I don’t think you guys are a threat.’ This was met with a glare from Havve, which said otherwise. ‘...well, not that you’d kill us for no reason.’

‘What do you guys think?’ Sung asked.

‘Well, it’s not like we’d be doin’ anythin’ but walkin’ around aimlessly.’

**We might find something.**

And Havve, not having any words to say, simply nodded in agreement.

Matt smiled. ‘Thanks, I really appreciate it-’

**Do you know where he went?**

He stared at Phobos. ‘Sorry?’

‘Y’know where he went?’ translated Meouch.

‘He’ll be on his lunch break. It’s later that we need to worry - he’s been working overtime in the warehouse lately.’

‘The warehouse?’ repeated Sung.

‘It’s not the kind of place you’d wanna be alone late at night with a murderer on the loose.’

‘Do you know where it is?’

Matt nodded. ‘I can take you there tonight.’

The warehouse was some ways out of the main parts of town, and would have seemed to be forgotten to time were it not for the lamps that lit the street. The building itself only served to reinforce this, with multiple smashed windows that had been boarded over and pieces of the water damaged roof had fallen in.

The door creaked open, and Matt’s voice echoed.

‘James?’

Already, things did not seem as they should.

Water dripped from the open pieces of ceiling. The puddles formed were not clear as water often was, but rather had a green tinge to it.

As the five walked, they were certain to not step in the puddles, nor to make a sound.

Going in further, a goo-like substance was strung between boxes and the tarps which covered some of them, similar to a thick web. They ducked and weaved around it, fearful to disturb the unknown.

In the centre of the warehouse was an oddity that glowed the brightest.

A hole had been dug deep into the ground, through layers of cement and down into the earth below. This, too, was filled with the same strange water they had seen prior.

And before it all was yet another blood-drained corpse.

‘James!’ Matt exclaimed, running up to the corpse and kneeling beside it. ‘Fuck - it got him too-’

‘You’re sure it’s him?’ Sung asked gently.

‘Of course I’m sure! You think I can’t recognise my own friend, even like this? Jesus- what the hell is this?’

‘That’s what we’ve been trying to figure out. It looks like we might be onto something here, though.’

Havve walked to the pool of water. Beneath its surface was hundreds of small, green pebbles - more than he could possibly count, but enough to remind him of the two on his person.

Removing them from his pouch, he placed them beneath the water with the others.

And one began to crack open.

Havve kneeled to the water’s surface, bringing his face closer.

The pebble continued to crack open, and out peeked a spindly limb.

He got up and pulled Meouch - the closest person - to his position.

‘Whoa! What is it?’ More legs pushed out of the pebble-shaped egg, and out squeezed a small, arachnid-like creature. ‘Hey, you guys better come see this.’

Phobos, Sung, and Matt also gathered around, in time to see the small creature scuttle up the sides of the pool and out into the open air.

Havve crushed it underfoot as it scuttled towards him.

‘I think we’ve found our answer,’ said Sung, ‘and not a moment too soon. You four-’ Sung said this as he began to turn, ‘-wait here, I’ll catch Officer Martin. Make sure nothing escapes.’

As Sung ran off, another egg began to hatch.

A low rumbling came from the ceiling.

‘Well fuck,’ said Meouch, as he and the others looked upwards.

Sung couldn’t help but mentally curse whoever decided the warehouse had to be so far from the centre of the town.

He had to keep running, no matter how much his legs burned, no matter how out of breath he was.

They had so little time left, and his friends were counting on him.

All he had to do was find Officer Martin, and everything would be fine.

‘This is  _ not _ fine,’ said Matt as he backed away.

‘Don’t leave,’ replied Meouch, with the undertone of a growl. ‘We need your help. Grab one of these tarps,’ he commanded as he grabbed a corner himself, ‘and pull it over the pit.’

‘Wh- What about the big one?’

‘Forget it for one second. If those lil’ ones get out, we’re fucked.’

Each of them grabbed a corner of a tarp and pulled it off the boxes. They carried it over and stretched it as far as possible over the pool.

The large one began to descend from the ceiling.

‘Officer Martin!’

Sung doubled over, gasping for air as Officer Martin left the station.

‘What is it?’ she asked unenthusiastically. ‘I’m off duty.’

‘We… think we found it.’

‘What?’

‘The - the murderer.’

‘You can take it up with one of the officers who’s on duty.’

‘Please-’ Sung grabbed her wrist and tried, in his current state, his best to make eye contact. ‘You’re the only one who’s given us a chance.’

‘Now what?’ Matt’s voice shook. ‘What do we do?’

The group backed away as the creature inched closer.

‘Fuck, I don’t know,’ replied Meouch with a considerable amount more courage. ‘Havve can squash it again.’

Havve shook his head furiously - it may have been smaller than them, but it still measured to their shoulders.

‘You’re a lion, aren’t you? Don’t you have claws or something you can attack it with?’

Their backs hit a stack of boxes.

‘You fuckin’ stereotypin’ now? Do I look like some regular fuckin’ Earth lion to you?’

Phobos looked back to the boxes, back to the creature, and ran, unnoticed, from the group.

‘Well we have to do something!’

‘Why don’t you fuckin’ do it then?’

The creature opened its pincers wide, a thick, green slime dripping from them.

‘Thanks for nothing!’

‘I could say the same for you!’

Boxes shifted above them.

Havve looked upward, and saw the box coming towards them.

He shoved Matt and Meouch out of the way.

Boxes came toppling down on top of the creature, leaving Phobos standing on the pile that remained.

Havve gave him a thumbs up, which Phobos returned in kind.

The warehouse door slammed open with a mighty  _ bang _ , which caused the group to jump.

‘Where is he?’ they heard Officer Martin shout.

‘Think the thing’s more of an it,’ Meouch called back.

**Or a she.**

‘The murderer isn’t human,’ Sung explained as the two walked towards the group, ‘it was from off planet, as you’d expected. But  _ we _ weren’t the culpri-’ stopping, he looked at the toppled boxes and the considerable mess beneath them. ‘What, uh, what happened here?’

Phobos climbed down from the boxes and signed,  **Extermination.**

‘You were lookin’ for somethin’ you could explain,’ Meouch continued. ‘We happened t’ be in the wrong place at the wrong time.’

‘And what,’ said Officer Martin as she looked to Matt, ‘are you doing here?’

‘I wanted to help,’ he replied meekly. ‘I… we… found another body. They’re not responsible.’

Officer Martin nodded. ‘You four are free to go - God, how am I meant to explain this one?’

‘You’ve already had aliens land in your little town.’ Sung smiled. ‘I don’t think this will be as difficult as you might think.’

Officer Martin smiled back. ‘Thanks for all your help - and I guess I owe you an apology for assuming you were murderers.’

‘Wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened,’ Meouch mumbled.

‘Don’t worry about it,’ replied Sung. ‘We were able to help out, and now we’ve got a clean slate.

‘You should leave, get some rest - I have work to do here. Make sure the kid gets home safe too, alright?’

Sung nodded. ‘Thanks, Officer.’

The four aliens turned, while Matt continued to stare blankly at the incredible scene before him.

Havve gave Matt a tap on the shoulder on his way past and, grabbing his attention, gave a small nod of his head towards the exit.

Matt walked after them, giving one last glance back to the horrors that had befallen them that night.

Waves swayed gently onto the beach as though they attempted to escape the rising sun, only to be pulled back out into the great ocean. The beach had been closed to the public, but a little trespassing was nothing compared to the trouble they had been in until recently.

Doctor Sung, Commander Meouch, Lord Phobos, and Havve Hogan sat on the sandy shore as they watched the sun rise for another glorious day.

‘What’re we gonna do from here?’ Meouch asked.

‘If we’re all in agreement, I wouldn’t mind staying here for a bit longer.’

Meouch side-eyed him. ‘After all of this?’

‘We can’t judge the whole planet based on one incident. Granted, we didn’t arrive with great timing, but that’s more our fault than theirs.’

**I would like to see more of this planet,** Phobos considered.  **It looks like a beautiful place.**

‘What do you say, Havve?’

Havve nodded.

‘Meouch?’

Meouch hesitated. ‘Alright. Suppose I can give this place one more chance.’

Sung smiled, and looked back out towards the rising sun.

‘I think we’ll have a pretty good time here.’


End file.
